M+B hosts openings in two of its gallery spaces on Saturday, March 5, 2022, which are in close proximity in Beverly Hills. See below for info on Chase Wilson’s exhibition at the Doheny Drive location. “Rodeo” by Edgar Bryan opens at the Almont location, along with “Phil Chang: Pictures.” All three exhibitions will be celebrated on Saturday, March 5 from 6 to 8pm (at both locations). Remember to confirm with gallery for up-to-date covid protocols and guidelines – (proof of vaccination and masks MAY be required).
At the Almont location, “Rodeo” marks the first exhibition of new paintings by Edgar Bryan, whose paintings are imbued with moments of vulnerability and a sense of light-hearted honesty. Known for work characterized by a self-effacing sense of humor, Bryan’s process centers on a layered materiality and a well-developed sense of color, moving back and forth between a comical ineptitude and masterful virtuosity. Bryan updates classic forms of still-life and self-portraiture with irreverence and a highly finessed color palette replete with domestic objects and pop-cultural motifs. Often working from the standpoint of the clown or the fool, as in La Commedia dell’Arte’s Pierrot character, Bryan stages scenes that introspectively meditate upon the idea of the failed artist, lending the depths of self-reflection an air of comic relief. Each canvas possesses a theatrical quality – layers of frozen action and interaction absorb one another, condensing into logically self-contained narratives. Bryan’s paintings center process over content: games, thought experiments, and self-imposed assignments create an initial impetus, guiding the ensuing flow of rich colors and characters. These works offer no concrete arguments or overdetermined statements. Rather, each canvas becomes a pretext for introspection, inviting the viewer into a world which at once both familiar and prickly, open-hearted and gently self-deprecating.
Phil Chang: Pictures, Pigment and Canvas. This is the artist’s third show with the gallery, and runs from March 5 through April 2, 2022. Phil Chang’s work is part of a decade’s long conversation within conceptual art that approaches contemporary questions of production, circulation, and consumption. Working primarily with photography and photo-based materials, Chang carves out spaces of contemplation, instances of reprieve for a moment caught in the incessant flow of digital imagery.
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At its Doheny Drive location, M+B hosts an additional exhibition of new paintings titled “Americana Extravaganzoid: Table Edge World of False Empire: Window Time Thoughts of the Center Game of Spirit: Seeing into the Negative.” by Chase Wilson. The opening reception also takes place on Saturday, March 5, 2022, from 6 to 8 pm.
This exhibition is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery, and will be on view from March 5 through April 2, 2022, at the Doheny location.
Chase Wilson traces moments of hysteria and quietude. Shifting effortlessly between abstraction and an interrupted type of figuration, the artist’s still life paintings consolidate contradictory sentiments into unfussy, dream-like impressions. Depravity and grace become strange bedfellows; spiritual icons find their counterpart in empty cherry tomato cartons and tabletops. Wilson studies domestic spaces with a flaneur’s casual, energetic wit. He imbues objects one expects to see in motion with a sense of stillness, arresting a type of soft dynamics, a fragile inertia. The canvases, at heart, display a loyalty to surface reality. Moments of emptiness are treated as sites of rich eroticism. The cerebral intensity of abstraction is muted by charming knick-knacks and household items. Produced in response to the contemporary erosion of master narratives, these still life paintings find their footing in the grandness of daily life. Against both suspicion and cynicism, Wilson evokes a sense of soulful optimism, embracing a longstanding tradition of artists who dare to dream in public.
On view: March 5 – April 2, 2022
What: Two Exhibitions, Two Galleries
Where: M+B, 612 N Almont Drive, LA; M+B, 470 N Doheny Drive, LA
When: All of the art openings take on Saturday, March 5, 2022, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Website: https://www.mbart.com
